May 30, 2013

Avireo was released as part of their Summer 2012 collection. It's a really dusty, grey-infused, army green creme.

Artificial light, two coats:

This color is great worn as a variation on a neutral. It's flexible enough to be worn with just about anything, I think, and doesn't draw too much attention to itself.

Window-filtered daylight:

Outside, shade:

My only criticism is that it does dry a little darker than the bottle color; that's unfortunate since the bottle color is so nice.

Sun:

Formula: Thick and pigmented; goes on smoothly, and self levels perfectly. Pretty much a one-coat wonder, but I did two since I was photographing it.
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Next, is LVX- Midori:

Midori is a bright, almost-neon, chartreuse creme. It almost has a pea green quality, since there's a healthy amount of yellow in this green. It was released Fall 2012.

Artificial light, two coats:

Window-filtered daylight:

It does tend to take on a cooler, greener tone in natural light.

Outside, shade:

I have nothing bad to say about this one; it's a fun color- not the most flattering on my skin, but wearable, definitely.

Formula: Very good. It's on the thicker side, and pigmented, gliding on the nail easily. The first coat is slightly streaky, but it self-levels decently. For the most part, the second coat fixes the streaky areas, and obscures the nail line nicely.

It's a very vibrant, metallic, medium blue. It has very fine, lighter aqua shimmer running through it which makes it glow. It's one of those glowing-from-within polishes that are just amazing.

Artificial light, two coats:

Window-filtered daylight:

Plunge Pool looks dark around the edges, and bright and glowing where the light makes contact with the most elevated portions of the nail. Really beautiful.

Outside, shade:

Formula: This is on the thinner side, like most Revlons, however it's thicker than many, many Revlons I've tried; there's not too much danger of it running away to flood the cuticle. It applies easily and smoothly to the nail, and self-levels pretty well. I was worried it would be brushstrokey, but I applied it pretty carelessly, and there aren't any brushstrokes- hoorah!

Additionally, it's super, super pigmented, and will be a one-coat wonder for most people! I did two coats for swatches, just in case.
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This polish is a big winner for me- especially for an impulse purchase. It's going to be amazing on toes!

May 23, 2013

It's the motherload! I went kind of nuts on Transdesign.com one night. Their shipping is usually incredibly fast, by the way- I've yet to be disappointed!

Peeking in the boxes...

That strange cylinder is a nail foil called "Ocean Waves." Here it is:

I've never tried nail foils before. Any tips? I will probably do a blog post on them, because I picked up another too, as they're quite inexpensive:

Peacock feather print! Eeeeeii!

Here's the bounty all together!

Looks so girly...I'm not sure why I am so into pinks and purples lately, but I'm gonna roll with it!

Bottle shots! (by brand)

Three Orly polishes from the new Mash Up Summer 2013 collection: Orly- Mayhem Mentality, Orly- Pretty-Ugly, and Orly- Beautiful Disaster. I love me some Orly but I hate hate hate the new packaging!

Misa- Peach Passion and Misa- Lovely Lychee from the new Summer 2013 Fresh and Fruity release. I'm wearing Lovely Lychee on my toes now, and it's happy and Summery, and the formula was fantastic.

Three Essie polishes, but each from different collections!

The first is Essie- Bottle Service from the Spring 2013 Summer Neons.

The second is Essie- Sand Of A Beach(heh- my favorite polish name ever!) I have no idea what collection it's from or when it was released. If you happen to know, please enlighten me! I think it's quite old, but I've been eyeing it forever.

The third is Essie- Using My Maiden Name from this year's Bridal collection.

I finally picked up the only polish from the Hologlam collection that piqued my interest: China Glaze- When Stars Collide.

Lastly, more China Glaze. These are from the Summer 2013 Sunsational collection, and they're four of the neon jellies! From left to right: China Glaze- Shell-O, Heat Index, You Drive Me Coconuts, and Are You Jelly?.

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I plan on swatching just about everything here, since most of it is from new seasonal releases, but do let me know which you'd like to see first (if you have a preference), and I'll definitely prioritize accordingly!

This dries quickly to a matte finish, like most neons do, and when
matte, the blue and purple shimmer doesn't really show up prominently. Instead, it sort of sinks into the base. Don't get me wrong, it is visible in certain lighting, but you have to be looking for it, and it's not shimmery or shiny at all like normal shimmer should be. It doesn't catch the light. In the end, the effect is more like subtle flecks, not shimmer.

The base also dries darker than the bottle color- to more of a plum, while the bottle color is more of a bright warm purple.

Window-filtered daylight:

See how you can see the "shimmer," but it's not particularly shiny? Kind of odd. It's also not much of a neon like it's supposed to be- much darker and duller than bottle color.

Outside, shade:

Formula: It dries quickly, so if you also work relatively quickly, it applies to the nail relatively easily. It's also pretty pigmented.

My first coat turned out slightly streaky, but not horrible by any means. The second coat definitely took care of all the patchy areas, although its self-leveling abilities leave much to be desired. The bottom line is that the formula is workable, but very mediocre- bordering on below par.
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Between the polish drying much darker than bottle color, and the weird non-shimmery shimmer particles, this one was a big disappointment for me. There are some swatches around that make it look pretty amazing, but in person, this one is a dud, and skippable, in my opinion!